State Ievel issues

June 02, 2015

As a news junkie, I thrive on factoids that seem contrary to the general wisdom or prevailing thought. Courtesy of yesterday's Wall Street Journal's editorial "California Party Time", we have just such a clarion call of insight. The main message of the piece was that California got away with Gov. Brown's tax rate increases due to the boom in Silicon Valley unlike Illinois, Connecticut or Maryland who tried the same tactic without the innovative private sector to pick up the pieces. It goes on to describe the various ways the Guv and the legislature wants to spend it (vs. saving it in the "rainy day fund"). But the kicker is this:

The boom has been especially sweet for teachers unions because under the state constitution schools are entitled to most of the haul. Over the past four years state spending on K-12 and community colleges has grown by 45% to $68 billion this year.

That is an amazing statistic. There is no mention of how much of that has made its way into the classroom, but any way you look at it, that is a real increase.

May 30, 2015

Every once in a while we venture out of B'game and San Mateo County to discuss the goings-on in Sacto. This expedition to Sacramento is particularly rich

California Senate officials earlier this year hired two part-time employees to provide late-night and early-morning rides for members while they are in Sacramento, a 24-hour service that follows high-profile drunken driving arrests involving lawmakers in recent years.

The office of Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León declined to discuss the details or rationale of the program. “We’re not going to provide comment, because it’s a security issue,” spokesman Anthony Reyes said.

One has to wonder if anyone is looking out for taxpayer security? The next time I see Jerry Hill I will be sure to ask him.

March 19, 2015

Unlike the little Dutch boy who saved his community from flooding with his finger, the latest maneuvering by the State will do little to resolve the long-term drought concerns. Per the Mercury News/Times the actions include

Specifically, the rules adopted Tuesday:

Ban all restaurants, bars and hotels from serving water unless customers ask for it.

Require all hotels and motels to provide signs in rooms telling guests that they have the option of choosing not to have towels and linens washed daily.

Ban Californians from watering lawns and landscaping with potable water within 48 hours after measurable rainfall.

Require cities, counties, water districts and private companies to limit lawn watering to two days a week if they aren't already limiting lawn and landscape watering to a certain number of days a week. The rule applies to all 411 water providers with more than 3,000 customers in California, covering more than 95 percent of the state's population. But there is a loophole: If water providers are already limiting days of the week, even if it is to three or more days, they can continue with those rules and not restrict watering to two days a week.

All of these new rules ignore the thirsty elephant in the room - continued massive, high-density, over-development. It will take a lot of glasses of water, reused hotel towels, and brown lawns to begin to cover the incremental thousands of new housing units already approved or on the dockets in the Bay Area. One wonders where ABAG is on this issue???

November 24, 2014

I had heard rumblings about this from some plugged-in parents when Terry Nagel endorsed Proposition 2, but the word circulated late--or so I thought. The Daily Journal is reporting that the word came later than I thought--the Day After The Election??

The passage of Proposition 2 in November was heralded by supporters for its creation of a state rainy day fund, but language within capping reserves for individual school districts in certain years is generating concern among administrators who contend the money held there helps get through periods of uncertainty.

“Each school district is developing their own Local Control Accountability Plan and within that plan that school district based on their student population develops appropriate goals to realize the best academic outcomes for those kids and that is going to be different from school district to school district,” said Nancy Magee, administrator for board support and community relations at the San Mateo County Office of Education. “In San Mateo County, we still have basic aid school districts funded mostly by property taxes and others are funded through the state and those amounts differ greatly. Economic uncertainty exists for everyone and based on types of academic programs and type of budget they’re working within, it’s important for each school district to decide what their level of reserve should be when they hit not even economic uncertainty, but any type of uncertainty in their programs.”

County Superintendent Anne Campbell and the San Mateo County Board of Education issued a joint statement opposing the cap on district reserves on Nov. 5, the day after the measure was approved by California voters.

So what will be the impact on B'game schools?

For the San Mateo Union High School District, this reserve cap is also bad news for the district that has about a 12 percent reserve. Basic aid school districts, funded by local property taxes, have higher than normal reserves because of the volatility of its revenue, Liz McManus, deputy superintendent of business services, previously said.

“My understanding is there’s going to be modifications to the language in January (2015),” McManus said. “It’s probably not the best time to be reducing reserves.”

November 22, 2014

Today's Wall Street Journal has another great article by Allysia Finley discussing the state funding for the UC system and the political struggle between Jerry Brown and the UC administrators and profs. Here is my favorite part

At the meeting to approve the tuition hike, Gov. Brown gave regents a Jesuit discourse on why the UCs needed to live within their means. “The pressure of not having enough money can force creativity that otherwise cannot even be considered,” Mr. Brown admonished. Regents collectively rolled their eyes at the lecture on frugality from a governor who raised income taxes and sales taxes to finance the state’s bloated government and plans to build a $70 billion bullet train.

Thursday the regents approved a tuition hike and the news reports about the increasing percent of out-of-state students being accepted makes the news periodically. But the article notes UC Prez Janet Napolitano's office has 2,000 employees and 25% of them make more than 100G's. Your tax dollars at work. College acceptance letters are starting to arrive for B'game students along with the bills.

November 04, 2014

As I was voting today a couple of thoughts came to mind. In reviewing the local papers over the last month I was struck by how the SF Chronicle and the SJ Mercury News have abandoned the mid-Peninsula. They still deliver and collect their money, but you would be hard pressed to get any insight on any local races from either of them. Perhaps that is a good thing since the Merc's contribution this morning was to note a "Record-low turnout total predicted for California" at 46.1%. The headline read "Dems likely to lose Senate". I guess "GOP likely to win Senate" could not get past the editorial guidelines. The article, which belonged on the Opinion page rather than the front page, went on to suggest that if the Senate flips it would "leave Democrats to wield the filibuster and President Barack Obama to use his veto pen for the next two years". Very constructive--NOT.

So perhaps it is best that the big city rags have abandoned us to the very capable hands of the Daily Journal and the Daily Post. We get much better coverage year round, not just on Election Day. If you have not voted yet, please do get out and try to prove the record-low turnout crowd wrong. Here is one of the voting stations in B'game City Hall today at mid-afternoon. Veteran's Day (Remembrance Day) is a week from today and that alone should get you out if you haven't already done so.

As anticipated, Caltrans has gone ahead and prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Report on their widening project at Floribunda and its vicinity, signally their intent to go ahead with an iteration of their original “preferred option” that widens the highway to install a fifth lane, thereby inserting turn channels for the purpose of reducing left turn (Broadside) accidents. This despite last Fall’s offering of dozens of thoughtful suggestions from our City and our citizens, for ways to improve the safety of the Floribunda/El Camino Real intersection of the (dominantly residential) segment of highway, without permanent removal of 14-15 trees. There will be no room remaining after widening to replace any trees in the project area, though they pledge to plant 5 (FIVE) elm saplings elsewhere along the highway as mitigation.

Those who attended the Lane Room meeting a year ago may recall a question/answer and comment format that didn’t go so well for Caltrans, as they had come woefully unprepared. So, the next (and likely, final) meeting before their final EIR comes out will be an “open house” format. The Caltrans “open house” meeting, presumably with posters and information stations will be held on Thursday, November 13, at the Recreation Center, from 6:30-8:30.

The estimated cost for this hatchet job is $3.6 million and the interesting wrinkle for me is this little notation

1.3.4 Operational Measures Considered but Withdrawn : pg 23-26

Signal Timing Modifications

“….signal modification would cause vehicle traffic delay at the intersection in all directions…it would also cause disruption of SR82 signal timing progression on the SR82 corridor leading to increased vehicle emissions from idling vehicles and driver frustration due to delays….."

Anyone who knows this intersection and its northern brother at Oak Grove knows there are traffic stoppages in a variety of directions. It is far from the worst intersection in town and a bit of signal modification would not likely make it that much worse. So we can slow down the lights a bit or spend $3.6 million to cut down supposedly protected trees and....speed up traffic??? Any McKinley parents thinking about all this?

The real problem with California schools is a lack of accountability. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu this summer struck down the state’s teacher tenure, seniority and last-in-first-out laws as violations of equal protection in the landmarkVergara case. About 98% of teachers in Los Angeles Unified School District are guaranteed a job for life after just 18 months. Over the last decade only 91 teachers in California have been fired, and merely 19 for subpar performance.

Mr. Torlakson has condemned the Vergara case as “bashing teachers” and demanded that the state appeal. Governor Jerry Brown dutifully obliged. Should the appellate court uphold Judge Treu’s ruling, the next superintendent could let the decision stand and play an integral role in helping the legislature rewrite state law.

Mr. Tuck supports the Vergara ruling, and his candidacy is backed by the plaintiffs and such Democratic school reformers as former L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Parent Revolution executive director Ben Austin.

Two years ago, I posted about another brave politician here. We will see if Tuck can pull it off this year. Expect an onslaught of negative TV ads paid for by our neighbors on Murchison Dr. I put his lawn sign up today.....

October 11, 2014

The Marin Independent Journal just published an article about a bill (AB 1537) that Gov. Moonbeam has signed giving Marin, San Rafael and Novato some relief from high-density "affordable" housing regulations that are being rammed down cities' throats. Their assemblyman, Marc Levine, appears to have his act together on what should (and shouldn't) be a priority as an elected official. He is quoted saying

"Housing should be built in a manner that reflects the character of the communities in which we live. This bill encourages this by correcting an anomaly in law. This bill assures that the law reflects what Marin residents already know; we live in suburban communities, not a metropolitan county," Levine said.

Being re-classified as "suburban" means those three cities'

future affordable housing developments can be built at 20 units per acre versus the 30-units-per-acre previously required by the state. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2015, and will apply to one eight-year housing cycle from 2015 to 2023, after which it will be reviewed.

Let's put aside the theory that "affordable housing" is just a shell game that moves costs from one development to another or from part of one large development to another part. This is progress. Perhaps our Kevin Mullin could get cracking on the same initiative?

An acre is 43,560 square feet or between 5.8 and 8.7 standard B'game lots. So suburban reclassification would still equate to between 2.3 and 3.4 times our current single-family density. San Mateo County is already 3.3 times as dense as Marin County! Seems like plenty to me especially for something forced on us from Sacramento. Kevin? Jerry? What say you two?

October 03, 2014

If you read or watched any news source yesterday you saw the big ruling on the Stockton, CA bankruptcy case involving whether pension benefits (or liabilities) can take precedence over regular municipal debt. The Times, Daily Post, Daily Journal, Wall Street Journal and Chron all covered the facts but here at the Voice we look ahead to the ramifications, especially for B'game.

The judge was quoted in the County Times saying "California public employeee retirement law....is simply invalid in the face of the supremacy clause of the US Constitution." and he asked "Is CalPERS a state unto itself?". Then he answered his own question with a "no" ruling.

The point for fiscally solid cities like B'game is that we need to realize a dollar of pension liability here is worth more than a dollar in places like Stockton or Vallejo or San Jose. Hence the idea that we need to pay above-market-rate compensation to attract and retain "the best" has some limits. It is incumbent on city leaders to be able to articulate this--and to not screw it up by doing fiscally irresponsible things.

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